Carrie Munn

Caroline M. Neunder was born in Buffalo, New York,^[1] the daughter of George F. Neunder and Carolina U. Kreuzer Neunder. Her mother died in 1907.^[2] George Griswold Frelinghuysen was her cousin.^[3]

As Caroline Nunder or Carolyn Nunder, she had a brief stage career,^[4] appearing as a showgirl^[5] in two Broadway productions, Girl o' Mine (1918) and Aphrodite (1919).^[6] She also designed costumes for Sonny (1921). She also published a short book, Everyday Problems in Etiquette: Explained in Pictures (1922).^[7] She opened a dress shop in New York City in 1920, to help support her sister after their father's death.^[8][9]

Munn, a self-taught seamstress with no formal design training, opened another shop on Madison Avenue in 1941;^[10][11] she offered American-made couture gowns, dresses, suits, and separates during World War II and afterwards.^[12][13][14] She gave parties to show her latest designs to socialites and celebrities,^[1][15] including Elizabeth Parke Firestone^[16] and Dorothy Kilgallen,^[17] and often modeled her own creations at society events.^[11][18] Her typical silhouettes featured full skirts and nipped-in waists.^[19][20] "Every bodice is moulded close to the figure with a tiny waist. Do not expect limp sheaths or shirtwaist types from this designer," said a newspaper report of Munn's Fall 1952 collection.^[21] In 1957, her name was discussed for a possible appointment to an ambassadorship in Luxembourg or Belgium.^[22]

Munn married lawyer and magazine editor Orson Desaix Munn II in 1924; they had a son, Orson Desaix Munn III, born in 1925.^[23] Her husband died in 1958,^[24] and she died in 1984, in New York City, a few days after her 86th birthday.^[1] Museums holding works by Carrie Munn include The Henry Ford^[16] and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.^[25]